"They're all, I would call them, in three to four months as opposed to six to nine months," said John Legere, T-Mobile USA CEO.

Last year, T-Mobile said it would try to bring in more customers from rivals by offering the iPhone and cutting cell phone subsidies in 2013. By eliminating these cell phone subsidies, customers can enjoy lower service prices and more flexibility (meaning that customers will pay the entire purchase price of the phone right off the bat instead of getting a discount in exchange for a two-year contract).

Meanwhile, rivals like Verizon and AT&T still depend on subsidizing cell phones to give device discounts while pulling customers into two-year contracts.

"If the old industry structure chooses to ignore what we do, that's a potential," said Legere.

T-Mobile is the last of the four major U.S. carriers to sell the iPhone. AT&T was the first carrier to sell Apple's smartphone when it was released in 2007. In early 2011, Verizon finally got its hands on the iPhone as well, and later that year, Sprint started selling the iPhone 4 and 4S with unlimited plans (which was a competitive edge, considering AT&T and Verizon had both nixed their unlimited data plans for tiered packages).

T-Mobile is now moving along with its introduction of the iPhone as well, and seeks a competitive edge of its own with the elimination of cell phone subsidies.

T-Mobile also has a few other tricks up its sleeve, such as a possible merger with MetroPCS. The companies are currently seeking approval.

The top smartphones cost that much because they are quasi-monopolies. If someone is pretty dead set on Apple - whether through iTunes investment, marketing, trust, friends, whatever - then Apple will price their phone according to what people can afford, not according to cost.

The Galaxy Note II is the only phone with an inductive stylus, and even beyond that there really isn't anything that offers the same software, size, battery life, AMOLED, etc. Samsung doesn't have to worry about competition, so its demand is not as elastic with price as most products.

If smartphones were really such money makers, Samsung and Apple wouldn't be getting 90%+ of the industry profits. Everyone else is pricing them as low as they can while recouping development costs. Blame the consumers for not rewarding them enough.

Finally, and most importantly, most smartphone contracts cost $2000+. Not many people are going to stray away from the biggest brands just to save 5-10%.